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The Washington Capitals have plenty more in their arsenal and it’s going to be a monumental task for the Leafs to keep every talented Capital in check starting in Game 1 of the opening round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on Thursday night.

“They have a lot to throw at you,” Leafs defenceman Connor Carrick said. “We just want to go out and assert our game early in the series, do things we do well and put some doubt, (and try to) steal one from them.”

The Leafs could steal a game or two from the Presidents’ Trophy champions. But to beat the Capitals four times in the next couple of weeks? That’s likely asking for too much.

Ovechkin will start the post-season on a bit of a cold spell, as he did not score in the Capitals’ final seven games after recording a hat trick against Minnesota on March 28.

Ovechkin routinely has owned the Leafs, piling up 60 points (33 goals, including 13 on the power play, and 27 assists) in 42 regular-season games. The 31-year-old Ovechkin, however, is coming off a sub-par season by his standards.

Just about every other player in the National Hockey League gladly would take a 33-goal season, but for Ovechkin, it represented the first time in four years he did not score at least 50 goals; it also marked his lowest goal total in an 82-game season since 2010-11 when he scored 32 goals. And keep in mind he had 313 shots on goal, second in the NHL only to defenceman Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks.

Consider, however, that Ovechkin has not bothered to try to mask the overwhelming disappointment when the Caps have been ousted from the playoffs in recent years and know that he will be motivated greatly by past failures.

Again, it’s not just the Ovechkin factor that will keep the Leafs busy.

Nicklas Backstrom finished fourth in NHL scoring with 86 points, behind Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane. T.J. Oshie scored a career-high 33 goals, while Justin Williams, at the senior citizen’s age of 35 (at least in the present-day NHL), scored 24 goals, his best output in 10 years.

The blue-line corps has no superstars but is solid all the way through: Five defencemen, led by John Carlson, averaged at least 191/2 minutes of ice time a game. Coach Barry Trotz can roll his group as he pleases.

Get through all that and the Leafs still have to find a way to consistently beat Braden Holtby enough to win four games. Again, good luck. Holtby led the NHL with nine shutouts and had a .925 save percentage, the best he has recorded in a full season in his career. With 182 goals against overall, the Capitals allowed the fewest during 2016-17 in the NHL.

Minutes after their regular season ended on Sunday night, the Leafs, who had a full day off on Monday, started to try to convince themselves that the old adage about the playoffs was true.

“Once you get in, anything can happen,” Leafs forward James van Riemsdyk said. “With how tight the league is now, anyone can beat anyone on any given night. It’s a matter of playing within your structure and executing.

“When you finish in the top spot, the expectations are a little bit different, that’s for sure. For us, we have surpassed some outside expectations, so it’s a little bit of a different dynamic for each team.

“When we come this far, we are not going to be satisfied with anything but trying to move on and trying to win games so were not just happy to be here. We want to try to make our mark and play as well as we can.”

There’s the rub: The deep, experienced Capitals share the same aspirations. And that probably is going to be too much for the Leafs to topple.

JVR LOOKS PAST PERSONAL MILESTONE

James van Riemsdyk reached a personal high for points in one National Hockey League season and couldn’t have cared less.

“You know what, I am just excited we are in the playoffs and get a chance to play for the Stanley Cup,” the Maple Leafs forward said when asked about the individual milestone. “We have got better and better as the season has gone on. It’s going to be an exciting challenge for us.”

When van Riemsdyk scored two goals against Columbus on Sunday, he finished with 62 points, one more than he had in 2013-14. Included in van Riemsdyk’s 29 goals (one short of his career best) were five game-winning goals, also one shy of his career high of six, accomplished as a rookie in 2009-10 with Philadelphia.

For the third time in his five seasons as Leaf, van Riemsdyk was second in team scoring, finishing seven points behind Auston Matthews.